THE CHARACTERISTICS OF ENTREPRENEURIAL ACADEMIC SCHOOLS AT AN INSTITUTION USING A RESPONSIBILITY CENTERED MANAGEMENT BUDGET

Abstract

Drastic shifts in the funding of American higher education over the last three decades have forced many public colleges and universities to adopt an entrepreneurial approach to meet their financial bottom line. Increasingly, public colleges and universities are adopting Responsibility Centered Management (RCM) budget models because they encourage educationally sound choices, efficiency, and entrepreneurial behavior. Despite a growing body of research on the efficacy of RCM models at the institution level little is known about their impact on the academic schools within the institution. Guided by Clark’s (1998) research on entrepreneurial behavior in higher education, an embedded case study design was used to test the extent to which entrepreneurial behavior exists within three academic schools at an institution using an RCM budget model and to identify the characteristics of this behavior. From this study three main findings were identified. First, entrepreneurial schools understand and leverage the inherent incentives in their institutions RCM model. Second, entrepreneurial schools recognize and capitalize on the environment within and around the university. Third, entrepreneurial schools are committed to increasing their research performance. From these emerged an additional finding that the external environment, and how a school perceives the challenges and opportunities present in this environment, impacts the strategic responses of each school. The presentation of findings leads to recommendations for practice at academic schools within an RCM environment.